Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca suggested he has changed his mind about Rayan Ait-Nouri

Geronimo Rulli has known for days that he will be starting Manchester City's cup game with Brighton on Wednesday. His status at the club all but guaranteed it anyway, but seeing Gianluigi Donnarumma given three days off after the Aston Villa game confirmed that Rulli will be between the sticks again for the Carabao Cup game.

There will be more changes in defence, with Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol also among the five players given a holiday by manager Enzo Maresca. That means at least two spots will be up for grabs for players looking to play their way into the team for Premier League and Champions League games.

Whether Rayan Ait-Nouri gets an opportunity remains to be seen in what is threatening to be another disappointing season. The Algerian was overlooked off the bench in favour of academy defender Kaden Braithwaite in the second match of the campaign, shortly before a deadline day loan move to Manchester United was explored.

Maresca then replaced Gvardiol in the Porto game with Abdukodir Khusanov and made it clear shortly afterwards that he saw Ait-Nouri more as a winger. "When he was at Wolves, I know he was playing back five, so it was more wing-back than full-back," Maresca explained. "In this moment, I see him more winger than full-back."

Ait-Nouri played the full game against Norwich in the Carabao Cup but further opportunities have been limited - despite injuries to wingers Jeremy Doku and Antoine Semenyo. The former Wolves defender was only given 20 minutes off the bench in a much-changed team against AEK Athens and on Tuesday Maresca spoke of him as being a full-back again.

"He's basically a full-back in that position. We have Josko who is doing fantastic, we have Nico [O'Reilly] who when he is fit is doing fantastic. He's the same position. It's just competition between them."

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Ait-Nouri is most likely to get minutes in the Carabao Cup, but if he is seen as a full-back then even with Gvardiol out O'Reilly is likely to be preferred. The best young player in the Premier League last year has had a disrupted start to this campaign and needs minutes to build his rhythm.

There is a chance that Ait-Nouri plays instead of him, or as well as him, in the team, but it is a new challenge for the 25-year-old if Maresca is now seeing him as a full-back again rather than a winger. And until he can establish himself in any role, it's going to remain a battle for Ait-Nouri to get any meaningful minutes at City.